Ditching Hollywood for a life of treats

Shane Stanger left film producing to open an ice cream sandwich shop in Pacific Beach

When childhood best friends talk about the future, they imagine sharing a dorm room in college or opening a restaurant together. But no one expects that to actually happen.

But for Shane Stanger and Rob Robbins, two friends from Del Mar, those dreams materialized in their custom ice cream sandwich shop, The Baked Bear.

The dessert spot recently opened in Pacific Beach and Stanger, 26, explains why he dropped his life in Hollywood to make that dream come true.

Q: Why did you decide to open an ice cream sandwich shop?

A: (Rob) Robbins and I wanted to create a fun and unique restaurant concept that people would get excited about. Knowing that location is everything in this industry, we began searching for real estate before actually locking down our concept. Our first stop was 4516 Mission Blvd. There was a cool side window and I suggested to Robbie that we run two restaurants, one selling ice cream sandwiches out the side window. The next day, he called me and said, “forget everything else we’ve been throwing around, we’re only selling ice cream sandwiches.” A week later we made an offer.

Q: What does the name The Baked Bear mean?

A: The “Baked” is for the cookies that we bake fresh daily. The “Bear” is for our polar bear that represents our ice cream.

Q: Where did you get the idea? Were you making these at home already?

A: Neither of us had backgrounds in baking. However, once we committed to this idea, we worked long hours in Rob’s dads bakery, Milton’s, trying to perfect recipes. We had a lot to do in a short time and realized we needed to bring in a baker so we could focus on setting the business up. We brought in a French dessert chef to help us perfect our recipes.

Q: When you and Rob made that childhood pact to open a restaurant, did you envision it being a dessert place?

A: It wasn’t so much a pact but when we used to talk about the idea, no desserts were ever mentioned.

Q: What were you each doing before The Baked Bear?

A: I was working at a major talent agency (in Hollywood) for two years out of college and transitioned into production. Rob was working in marketing at Ezekiel Clothing. We got to talk and realized this would be the last time in our lives we would be young enough to follow through with our restaurant plan. Everything we had talked about for years revolved around being in the demographic we were targeting. This was really the last shot to do things the way we wanted.

Q: What’s the one item that you can’t resist eating yourself?

A: Brownie/chocolate chip combo with cookies and cream ice cream. It is insanely good. I have been eating a lot of cookies. I eat them for breakfast because I always am five minutes late.

Q: Nothing in your store is over $5. Why is affordability important to you?